William Vaananen has penned some 30 children’s plays in his 27-year tenure as a music teacher at Wescott Elementary School in Northbrook. He wrote the anthem to commemorate the town’s centennial in 2001, a melody he called “Village by a Stream.”
And on Wednesday, the piano man with the vivacious smile and infectious personality rose to wild applause from an assembly packed with pupils and teachers to receive the No Child Left Behind 2007 American Star of Teaching, a U.S. Department of Education award given to one teacher in each state and the District of Columbia since 2004.
Minutes before, he had been playing an organ to accompany various assembly speakers, unaware he was the star of the show.
“I thought [the assembly] was for an award for our school,” a surprised Vaananen said upon hearing his name called as the winner. “I’m so glad, if it brings light on our school and community and public education.”
More than 4,000 teachers were nominated for the prize, including more than 160 in Illinois, said Carolyn Snowbarger, the Department of Education’s director of teacher-to-teacher initiatives. A committee of former teachers at the agency voted by secret ballot in June to choose the winners, Snowbarger said.
Judges look for teachers who exhibit exceptional talent and dedication to their craft, who are doing “drastic things” with curriculum to help children learn, Snowbarger said. Vaananen’s dedication to helping children sing on stage, an extracurricular activity that Wescott’s teachers said parents praise, made Vaananen stand above the other nominees, she said.
“His involvement in all aspects of the community and school really caught our attention,” Snowbarger said of Vaananen. “It’s really impressive.”
The American Star isn’t Vaananen’s first award.
In 1996, the Illinois Education Association gave him a human-rights award for “Free Thinkers,” a children’s musical he wrote about rights for women and immigrants to commemorate women gaining suffrage in 1920; in 1990 he received a Golden Apple Award for outstanding teaching.
In 2006, Vaananen gave the keynote speech, “Oh Say Can We Sing,” at the No Child Left Behind conference in Chicago.
Teachers and parents said Vaananen’s musicals help children learn about history while building the self-esteem that allows them to perform on stage. His approach, they said, instills not only a love of music and performance but also a love of learning.
“Under the guise of music, Bill teaches all kinds of subjects — social studies, art, literature,” said Wescott Principal Terri Carman. “How lucky we are to have him as part of our outstanding staff here.”
Vaananen’s shows often touch on lofty subjects.
“I teach global harmony, civil rights, equal rights,” he said. “I’m a storyteller. I think of myself as a social studies teacher. Music is a social study.”
In addition to teaching music and producing children’s shows, Vaananen also started the Brothers and Sisters Anthem Choir, which paired Wescott pupils with pupils from Gladstone Elementary School in Chicago.
“It’s a cool mix of African-American students and Latino students and suburban kids coming together and singing about social justice and community awareness,” Vaananen said. “We try to do songs that are culturally significant.
“Music should be fun.”
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dhoran@tribune.com
